First ER Trip

Last Thursday hubby and I attended my work holiday gathering (yes, I know the holidays are over and it’s 2010). We enjoyed meeting new people, playing pool and just spending time together outside of the home.

When I arrived home to meet the sitter (who we had never met before and found through the sitting agency we’ve used consistently since moving to Stamford) she was running a bit late, but was cheerful and her spirit put me at ease. Since she had put us behind a bit, so I quickly showed her around and gave her the basic instructions. As I was walking to the car I noticed my iPhone battery level was in the red, so I called the sitter back and left a message saying that if she needed me in the case of emergency to use hubby’s number.

At the holiday venue, I left my iPhone in my coat pocket and checked my coat since I didn’t have any pockets on my skirt. I gave the sitter hubby’s cell phone number and began to enjoy the evening. About an hour after we arrived I thought, I should check my phone, but since it was out of reach I let the thought fall out of my mind. About two hours into the event, I asked hubby if he had checked his phone and there was a missed call and voicemail from the sitter.

I called her back to learn that Gadget had receive a head injury, he was sleeping and had ice applied, but there was a lot of blood. She said he was asking for me, and was crying. I was able to remain calm. She said that her mom was a nurse, and that she’d called her for advice. Hubby and I said our goodbyes and headed straight home.

Gadget was resting on the couch with a bag of veggies wrapped in a towel (we have about ten ice packs in the freezer, but I guess frozen peas was the icepack of choice). He said he was tired and seemed very grateful mom and dad were home. The sitter apologized profusely and explained what happened as we examined Gadget’s head. I knew immediately I was taking my baby to the hospital. We got him dressed, and left the sitter with The Lion since he was already asleep.

The sitter explained that they were playing hide and go seek, and Gadget was jumping out from the kitchen saying “Peek-A-Boo!” and that he had tripped on a toy, and the corner of the wall had broken his fall. She shared that there was a lot of blood, and that he was scared. I think she may have been more scared than him! It was a new family, an injury, and we weren’t answering our phones!

I kept giving Gadget hugs and kisses and telling him everything would be okay. By the time we got to the emergency room Gadget was super excited to see a doctor. At check-in, I selected just about every type of injury I could: head injury, possible concussion, wound, laceration, headache, dizziness…. you get the picture. There was a fish tank and Gadget was counting how many “Nemo’s” were swimming in the water. I think I was a little bit anxious. Apparently, I only wrote down Gadget’s first name when we checked in.

A nurse quickly called him and surveyed his injury. It was still bleeding a little bit, so she parted his hair and cleaned the injury. Gadget sat on my lap the whole time and looked around inquisitively as the nurse took his pulse and temperature. The doctor gave me the choice of giving Gadget a local anesthetic and then the staples, or just the two staples. I asked Gadget, “Do you want two medicines that hurt or just one that hurts a lot.” He said just one, so she picked up the staple gun and pulled the trigger. Now, I was okay up until this point. It sounded just like a staple gun from TLC’s Trading Spaces. Gadget let out the start of a cry, but by the time the sound exited his lips, she had pulled the trigger the second time and I was assuring him that it was done. It was all over, he had done a great job.

The ER gave him some liquid ibuprofen, and sent us on our way in less than half an hour. As we got into the car I was super nauseous from the site of my baby’s head being held together by real staples. They looked just like the super strong ones you would use for a really thick document. This really bothered me. I think I could have stomached glue, tape, stitches, even gushing blood, but not staples.

Once home, the sitter opened the doors as she heard Gadget bounding down the hallway. She was very concerned, which warmed my heart. She even called this weekend to check up on him. Gadget is recovering quickly and gets his staples out this Thursday. It has not slowed him down one bit. We are grateful of the location (in his hair) and lack of severity of the incident. He had no concussion and seems to have taken it all in stride, and I did, too.

3 Responses to “First ER Trip”

This happened to my baby brother (10 years younger than me and my other brother). We were all playing and I think we were a little to rough with him, he was 3 at the time. He fell back and hit the back of his head on the edge of the coffee table. I had never seen so much blood. My mom went crazy. He was ok, but the shock was too much for us all.

Here’s to hoping your first ER visit for Gadget will be your last…well for this year 😉 Bicycle riding caused a lot of ER visit for my brothers too….it’s a boy thing.